Time and the production of space in sociology

Abstract What does the category “time” disclose in conceptual terms about the spatialization of social phenomena, the so-called production of space? By considering that since the 1950s sociology has embraced various theoretical frameworks for tackling the sociospatial process at hand, the paper answers this question in four analytic steps. Based on the ascertainment that (Section 1) these approaches address the temporalities of the respective research objects by means of definite spatialities, one peculiar history of sociology comes to the forefront. This history comprises (Section 2) four original ways of addressing the spatialization of social phenomena methodologically which were developed by Erving Goffman, Henri Lefebvre, Pierre Bourdieu, and Martina Low. The seven temporal-spatial scales implicit in these accounts suggest (Section 3) that the production of space is a simultaneously poly-temporal and poly-spatial social phenomenon. Its temporalities and spatialities contain (Section 4) two methodological contributions to the recent sociological debate on the issue.